ii.'fV»r,!;rJ.r>~'^''U» tf ^-^.■•♦i^• ^f he located, was called, "'Washington.'' George was consequently the sixth in descent from the first Lawrence of Sulgrave, whose parents had been, John, of Warton, and the daughter of Robert Kilson, and sister of Thomas, alderman of London. From this date llie genealogy is unbroken. Upon the surrender of the 14 OUR FOREFATHERS monasteries in 1538, the Manor of Sulgrave, near Norih- amptonj which belonged to the Priory of St. Andrew? was given up to the Crown, that with other lands was granted to Lawrence. He lived to the 19th of February, 1584. Robert, his heir, was twice married, and was the father of ten sons and six daughters. His father had four sons, and seven girls. Lawrence, the son of Robert, had seven sons — each of whom had seven sisters. The eldest son, you have been informed, was Sir William, of Packton ; and was father of Sir Henry, who so nobly defended Worster in 1046. John, the second son of Lawrence, grandson of Robert, great-grandson of Law- rence, great-greai-grandson of John, of Warton, was the man who came to Virginia in 1657. He was the great- grandfather of George, of deathless fame — the son of Augustine, the grandson of Lawrence. John had on his seal, a flying Griffin, as his crest. It was during the usurpation of Cromwell, that he left England. Lady Martha Washington, was the daughter of John Dan- dridge, of New Kent, and the widow of Daniel Parke Cuslis. Her son, J. P. Custis, was six years of age, and her daughter, M. P. Custis, four years of age, when she entered into her second matrimonial engagement. The latter died at Mount Vernon, in 1770, aged eighteen years — the former, nearly at the close of the war, in 178L The death of his daughter, as a distinguished lady, was recorded a few years ago, in the New Orleans Picayune, as having occurred in Clark co., Virginia; no other than Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, a woman of uncom- mon endowments of intellect. She was Eleanor Parke, the youngest daughter of John Parke Custis, and Eleanor, the daughter of Benedict Calvert, whom he married in 1773. Mrs. Lewis was born on the 31st of March, 1779, and THEIR HOMES AND THEIR CHURCHES. 15 became the wife of Lawrence Lewis, of Woodlawn, Fairfax co. — he was subsequently one of Gen. Wash- ington's executors, and was the son of Bettie, his only married sister, Mildred having died young. Mrs. Elea- nor Lewis left an only daughter, Frances Parke, the wife of Col. E. G. W. Butler, of the Parish of Iberville, Louisiana; and a sister, Mrs. Thomas Peter, of Tudor Place, District of Columbia. Also, an only brother, George Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington House, Virginia, now no more. Lady Washington, be it remem- bered, was of the old Calvert family, and a direct descen- dant of Sir George Calvert, to whom a charter for Mary- land was granted, in IG'^O, he having been created an Irish Peer, with the title of Lord Baltimore, in conse- quence of services rendered his sovereign, Charles the First, of England. H is desire was to provide an asylum for his Catholic brethren, who were, at that time, perse- cuted with relentless cruelty in Engrland and Ireland. He died before the charter was issued, hut it was granted to Cecil Calvert, his son and heir, who, in 1632, sent his TtwtuiB^ brother, Leonard Calvert, to settle the colony; he brought over two hundred persons, mostly Catholics. Arriving near the mouth of the river Poto- mac, he purchased a tract of land from the Indians, and named it Maryland, in honor of Henrietta Maria, the Glueen of Charles the First. By his just and liberal gov- ernment, he attracted settlers from all quarters, although none but Christian sects were tolerated in the colony. A change took place in the government. Cecil was deprived of his proprietorship, and Maryland became a Royal Province. But, in 1715, the Proprietary Govern- ment was re-established in his successor, the second Lord Baltimore. The only son of Lady Washington, married a distant cousin, Eleanor Calvert. 16 OUR forefathers; Soon after the birth of George Washington, in West- moreland county, his father removed to an estate in Stafford county, on the east side of the river Rappahan- noc, opposite to Fredericksburgh, where he died, after a short illness, on the 12th of April, 1743, aged forty-nine, (George then eleven years of age,) and was buried at Bridges' Creek, in the tomb of his ancestors. In the concerns of business, he was methodical, skilful, honor- able and energetic. To each son he left a plantation. Lawrence's, near Hunting Creek ; Augustine's was in Westmoreland. To George, was left the lands and mansion where his father lived and died, in the County of Stafford. Samuel, John-Augustine and Charles, each had a plantation of six or seven hundred acres; his Bettie was well provided for. Confiding in the prudence of his widow, all the income was at her disposal until each child should be of age. This weighty charge of five children, the superintendence of their education, and the management of complicated affairs, demanded no common share of resolution, resource of mind, and strength of character. In these important duties, she acquitted herself with great fidelity to her trust, and with entire success. Her good sense, assiduity, tender- ness and vigilance, overcame every obstacle; and as the richest reward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had the happiness to see all her children come forward with a fair promise into life; filling the sphere allotted to them in a manner equally honorable to themselves, and to the parent, who had been the only guide of their principles, conduct and habits. She lived to witness the noble career of George, who was applauded and revered by the whole world. How much do we owe to his mothei, for her early influence over him, forming his noblt character. He went to a common school, where the THEIR HOMES AND THEIR CHURCHES. 17 teacher was only competent to impart the simplest ele- ments of knowledge ; who, when he had inculcated the mysteries of reading and writing, arithmetic and keep- ing accounts, had fairly exhausted his skill. If the pupils of teachers in the New World, at that time, aspired to higher attainments, they must leave their masters behind, and find their way without a guide. Tradition tells that George was inquisitive, docile and diligent; whilst his probity and demeanor were such as to win the deference of the other boys, who made him the arbiter of their disputes, ever satisfied with his judg- ment. For himself, at the age of sixteen, when he left school, he laid down " Rules of Behavior in Company and Conversation,'' fitted to soften and polish the man- ners, to keep alive the best affections of the heart, to impress the obligation of the moral virtues, to teach what is due to others in the social relations, and, above all, to inculcate the practice of a perfect self-control. This code had an influence upon his whole life. His temperament was ardent, his passions strong, and amidst the multiplied scenes of temptation and excitement through which he passed, it was his constant eflx)rt and ultimate triumph to check the one, and subdue the other. He had ever a respect for the claims of others, with civility for all. His brother, Lawrence, served as an officer at the siege of Carthagena, and in the West Indies. He was a well-informed and accomplished gen- tleman, who had acquired the esteem and confidence of Gen. Wentworth, and Admiral Vernon, the commanders of the expedition. He it was who obtained for his young bfother a midshipman's warrant, in 1746, when George was fourteen years of age ; it was done without his kjnowledge, yet the happy lad prepared, with a buoyant s^)irit, for his departure; but as the time approached, / 18 OUR FOREFATHERS ; the solicitude of liis mother interposed with an authority, to which nature gave a claim. This decision must not be ascribed to obstinacy, or maternal weakness; her son's character and manners had already exhib- ited a promise full of solace and hope to a widowed mother, on whom alone devolved the charge of four younger children. To be separated from her at so ten- der an age, exposed to the perils of accident and the world's rough usage — without a parent's voice to coun- sel, or a parent's hand to guide — and to enter on a theatre of action which must forever remove him from her pres- ence, was a trial of her fortitude and sense of duty, which she could not be expected to hazard without re- luctance and concern. On leaving school, two years after, he went to reside with his generous brother, Law- rence, at his seat on the Potomac, called in compliment to Admiral Vernon. There he applied himself strictly to the study of mathematics and surveying. For the practice of the latter, at the age of seventeen years, he received £150 a year. He started on his first sur- veying expedition in March — on the 22d — one month after he was sixteen, accompanied by George, the son of Mr. William Fairfax, the father of Anne, the wife of Lawrence, w^ho was to him an excellent friend. George spent three years in his brother's family, yet often visiting his beloved mother, and the young ones at home with her. At the age of nineteen he was ap- pointed to take charge of the training of the Militia, as a Major. Just then he accompanied Lawrence to Bar- badoes, in 1751. Not improving in health, he removed to Burmuda, sending George for his wife to join him there; but before she had started,he grew suddenly worse ; so hastened to stop the party. He arrived at home, and sank rapidly into the grave, at the early age of thirty- i THEIR HOMES AND THEIR CHURCHES. 19 four, leaving an infant girl. His loss was keenly felt by many. The care of all the business at Mount Ver- non devolved upon George; still he was not drawn away from his public duties, nor his devotion to his mother and family, which continued unabated to the time of her death. Lady Washington was also descended from another ancient family, which migrated to Virginia in the person of the Rev. Orland Jones, of Wales. She was born in the County of New Kent, on the 6th of May, 1732, and at the age of '' sweet seventeen," was united to Colonel Daniel P. Custis of the White House, of the same county. His father, the Hon. John Custis, of Arlington House, a King's Counsellor, had matrimonial views of a more ambitious character, for his only son and heir, with Colonel Byrd's family, of Westover, who, for his influ- ence and vast possessions, was almost a Count Palatine of Virginia J but he preferred to make a match of affec- tion. They settled at the White House, on the banks of the Pamunky River, where he became a successful planter. Their first child, a girl, died in infancy, in 1750. Daniel was born in 1751 and died in '55. Grief at his loss hastened his father to the tomb. He followed his cherished boy, in 1756. Martha was born in 1752, and died at Mount Vernon, in 1770, aged eighteen years. John Parke Custis was born in 1754 ; he died whilst in the service of his country. He was one of the Com- mander-in-Chiefs suite, and contracted the camp-fever, during the siege of Yorktown, in 1781, only iwenty- !h the noble and the brave ; Beamy I mar, and in the grave I bury human joys. Since Beauty then, to Time must bow, And a